What He Couldn't Know
by Lifeguard
Summary: A sudden change in Brennan’s life forces her to make a decision that Booth must not know about, must never find out about. But can she keep her secret from an FBI agent?


_**Title: What He Couldn't Know  
Author: Lifeguard  
**__**Rating: **K+  
**Disclaimer: **Unfortunately I don't own Bones, but I wish I did.  
__**Summary: **A sudden change in Brennan's life forces her to make a decision that Booth must not know about, must never find out about. But can she hide her secrets from an FBI agent?  
__**Author's Notes: **I know I am in the middle of writing Vegas Luck, but this plot bunny jumped into my head and refuses to stop hopping around until the story is written. Let me know what you think, it's a one shot. Reviews are always welcome! (Also, there is a crossover with another show near the end of the story._

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Booth ran through the hallways of a hospital he had never been in before, and nearly collided with the nurse's station as he skidded to a halt.

"Excuse me! Please, I'm looking for Temperance Brennan. Someone called me saying she was here!" he demanded of the people behind the desk.

"Are you Agent Booth?" a dark haired woman in blue scrubs asked him.

"Yes! Where is Temperance Brennan?"

"If you come with me I'll take you to her."

He followed the girl down the hall, "What's wrong with her? Is she alright?"

"The doctor is with her right now, but it looks like we'll have to work quickly."

He was lost, "Work quickly on what?"

"We need to get Dr. Brennan into surgery as soon as possible to make sure her and the baby are alright."

Booth's mouth hung open, "Baby? What baby?"

The young doctor had stopped outside of a room, "Dr. Brennan's baby, Agent Booth."  
She opened the door, ushering him inside. As he stepped over the threshold, he froze, his eyes falling upon the woman in the bed, her belly swollen , her blue eyes meeting his.

"Booth…" Brennan whispered.

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7 Months Earlier

Temperance Brennan sat on the edge of her bathtub starring at the stick in her hand. The tiny blue line on the end of it starred back at her, taunting her, threatening to change everything in her life.

It was the third pregnancy test she had taken.

She got up slowly and placed it on the counter along with the other two, and gazed at them all together.

It couldn't be possible.

"This isn't happening…" she muttered, sinking down onto her toilet, head in her hands.

All three tests were positive.  
Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, and self proclaimed non-mother, was with child.

"I can't do this," she whispered, knowing fully well that she didn't want children, nor did she think she was capable of raising a child. She could not keep this baby, would not keep this baby.

But getting rid of it now was not an option in her mind. Somehow, despite the logical part of her brain describing in detail what the baby, or rather embryo was right now, she knew it was still human, still a living being inside of her, and to discard it like trash was not an option.

She got up and began to pace her apartment, racking her brain for a plan. If she wasn't going to abort the baby, then what? It meant she would have to carry it to term, and she knew she couldn't do that without the father noticing.

The father. Him.

She froze. He'd want to keep it, raise it as their own, be a family.

Those thoughts alone nearly had her running for the door. How could she, who was abandoned by her own family, create her own? Being a mother, a wife, with the suburban home and nuclear family was the last thing she wanted.

"I can't tell him," she said aloud at her sudden realization.

He would never understand. He was the exact opposite of her. He loved his child, and the idea of having a family. He would hate her if he knew the thoughts running through her mind about the baby they had created together. He would hate her and leave her if he ever found out that she didn't want his baby.

And so her decision dawned on her. He would never understand, so he wouldn't have to.

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Temperance Brennan kept her secret from everyone for four months. She hid it well, even the morning sickness. No one knew, no one suspected, not even him. And in those four months, she planned her escape, plotted how to cover her tracks and hide the evidence.

She had up-coming vacation time she was going to take full advantage of. It would give her just enough time in those few months to disappear, have the baby and return as if nothing had happened.

The problem was, she couldn't let anyone follow or find her.

She told no one she was leaving. She left it up to Cam to inform them of her vacation after she had left.

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Her cell phone rang and she glanced down at the call display before answering it. She figured she should at least answer one of the calls, it was the least she could do for her friend.

"Brennan! Where the hell are you?! Did you not think to let me know that you were leaving?" Angela exclaimed on the other end.

"I'm sorry Ange, I probably should have told you, but I got caught up in planning and finishing up my work," she lied.

"Well I guess I can forgive you, it sounds like a plausible theory. But you can't just disappear like that, I was really worried about you not coming into work today until Cam told us you were gone on vacation. So where are you?"

"You're going to hate me, but I can't tell you Angela."  
The artist picked up on the change in her friend's tone, "Sweetie, what's wrong? Why can't you tell me where you are?"

"All I can tell you is that I'll be back, and you have to trust me enough to know that I will, and that I'm ok."

Angela hesitated before answering, "I trust you Brenn, but promise me that wherever you are, you'll keep in touch then, alright?"

"I promise."

"Have you talked to Booth since you left?"

It was the question she had been dreading, "No…"  
"Well he seemed a little shocked when he found out you had left without telling him. He's been calling you all day, and you aren't answering."  
She knew that. She had dozens of missed calls from him, all sitting in her voice mail. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet.

"Brenn, you have to tell me. Did you leave because of him? Did something happen between you two?"

"No…" she lied.

Something had happened between her and Booth, it had happened almost five months ago. She was surprised that Angela hadn't picked up on it then, but they had been discreet.

"Fine, but when you get back, you're explaining this whole weird trip to me, no excuses. How long are you going to be?"

"I'm not sure yet," she lied again, knowing for sure that she would be gone for at least four months. She absently rubbed her belly, which at five months along was starting to show. She had left just in time.

"Ok then. When you're ready to talk without being all vague, give me a call alright? Maybe even send a post card and give me a hint at where you've gone. Also, please, just talk to Booth. He's worried."

"I'll call you later Ange."

She disconnected and starred out her window as the bus she was on rolled through the desert. Her mind drifted back to the night that had changed everything. Her mind drifted back to Booth.

Five months ago one night had caused all this. Caused her to run, to deceive her friends and the man who she knew loved her.

They had been having a late dinner after working all day on a case, and had gotten into a bitter fight over the suspects. He drove her back to work, where they needed to collect some case files, and had followed her into her office, still fighting.

Somewhere between the back and forth yelling, he had admitted that he protected her because he couldn't bear loosing her, causing her to become speechless. He had taken advantage of that moment to kiss her, backing her into her desk. She didn't stop him, but encouraged him by deepening the kiss.

And that was it, they had made love that night on her desk, and then the couch, and finally had made it back to her apartment.

In the weeks that had followed she had slowly let him into her heart, and their relationship went from partners to lovers. Yet they were very quiet and discreet about it. No one in the lab knew, not even Angela had figured it out.

She knew it would be one of her greatest regrets in life, not telling him about the baby, and the guilt would eat away at her every time she looked at him. But it was for the best that he didn't know, couldn't know, because she knew he would never look at her again if she told him her true feelings about his child.

She wouldn't answer his calls again today. She was to afraid she wouldn't be able to talk to him without crying.

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Booth paced his office as he disconnected from Brennan's voice mail again. Rubbing his neck, he kicked at a chair, furious that she wasn't answering his calls, and worried sick about her. Cam had said she went on vacation, but it wasn't like Bones to just leave and not tell anyone, not even Angela. He was especially upset that she hadn't told him. Things had been going so well for them, she was actually letting him in, and he knew he loved her. So why would she just leave? He prayed that she was alright, that nothing bad had happened. Booth flipped open his cell phone and dialled her number again. It rang and rang, and then went to her voice mail.

"Bones, where are you?" the concern was evident in his voice, "I need to know if you're ok, where you are. Just please, call me back."

He disconnected and sat down at his desk, hanging his head.

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Two days later she found herself on the west coast, in a small apartment, a mere ten minutes walk from the ocean itself.

She heard a grunt as a man came through the front door, carrying one of her large suitcases for her.

"Temp, where can I put this?" he asked.

"In the bedroom please dad," she answered.

Her father had been instrumental in her escape, and finding her a temporary home. She was house sitting for a couple he knew through a friend. The couple was on a second honey moon, backpacking through Europe, and were more than happy to have someone watch their place while they were gone.

Max came back into the living room and she turned to him, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"A water would be great."

He sat on the couch as she brought him a bottle of water, and sat down beside him. He took a drink, and studied her for a moment before inquiring,

"So are you going to tell me the real reason you left D.C. Temperance? From what I know, your normal vacations consist of going to some exotic country to study the culture or identify bones. This," he gestured around him, "seems a little to mundane for you. And don't tell me you just need the quiet to work on your book. I may have been gone for some of your life, but I still know when something isn't right with you."

She sighed. He was right, and had caught on quickly. Anyone who knew her would know that settling in Seattle for four months was not exactly her first choice when it came to vacation time. But then again, it was exactly why she picked it, somewhere no one would think to look for her.

Brennan smoothed the sweater she wore that concealed her growing belly. He would eventually find out, as he had promised to check in on her while she was there.

"Dad, I'm pregnant," she whispered. It felt like a weight had been taken off her shoulders to finally be able to tell someone her secret. And at the same time, it made her situation seem even more real.

His mouth dropped open, "Congratulations-"  
"No. This isn't a happy event," she cut him off.

"It's why you left home?"

She nodded.

"But why Temperance?"

"Because I can't tell the father…" she took a deep breath, trying to keep herself from crying.

He moved closer to her on the couch, taking her hand in his, "What happened? Who is the father? What did he do to you, because I could take care of him if you want."

She shook her head, "No dad, the father, he's a wonderful man. It's just…I can't tell him because I don't want this baby, so he can't know about it."

"You don't want it?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

"No. I've always said that I don't want children, I don't know how to handle them. So I'm going to have the baby and give it up for adoption, to a family who will want it."

"Oh Temperance…" it was her father's turn to breathe deeply, closing his eyes, "I'm so sorry if what your mother and I did had any effect on you not wanting children…"

She couldn't bring herself to tell him that what he said was true. Instead, she just squeezed his hand and wiped a tear from her cheek, "This whole thing isn't your fault Dad. It's my choice as well."

"It's Booth's baby, isn't it."

More tears began to fall down her cheeks and she swiped at them, cursing her hormones.

"He can't know…I can't tell him dad. Please, no one can know I'm here, no one can know about this baby, that it's his."

Max nodded, "Of course Temp, no one will find out," he soothed her, pulling her into a hug.

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That night, as she lay in bed, she rubbed her belly, thinking of the child within her, and who it would be. She tried to imagine what the baby would look like, if it had her features or Booth's, and if one day, it would try and find her. She hadn't decided what kind of adoption she wanted yet, an open or closed one. She knew how much she had wanted to find her parents, so she was leaning towards an open one, but feared she would have to give information on the father. The last thing she wanted was the child to show up on Booth's doorstep years later, and break her secret to him.

Her mind wandered back to Booth. She felt so much guilt already about not telling him about the baby or where she was going. She wondered if she could ever be the same around him after she went back.

And she missed him. She missed him so much. The bed felt to big and empty without his presence.

Sitting up, she took her cell phone from the night stand, and listened to each of his messages for the first time.

When she was done, she glanced at the clock and calculated the time difference. It was late, very late in D.C., but from the tone of his messages, she could almost see him still wide awake in his apartment, watching infomercials and worrying about her. Slowly, she dialled his number and waited.

It rang once, then again. By the third ring she wanted to hang up, but it was to late.

"Hello?" came a tired voice, but not one woken from sleep.

"Booth?" she whispered.

"Bones!" he was now wide awake, "Where are you? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Booth."

"Where are you? It's been four days, no almost six if you include the weekend you left, since I've heard from you. I've been worried sick about you!"

"I know, you've taken up almost all my voice mail space."

"So why didn't you return my calls? Where have you been?" he demanded, slightly harsher this time.

"I'm on vacation. Didn't Cam tell you? But I promise I'm alright."

"I'm on vacation doesn't tell me where you are. Why didn't you tell me you were leaving? Or where you were going?"

He could hear her hesitate, "Booth…it's complicated. I just, I need some time away, just some time alone…I can't tell you where I am. I'm sorry Booth."

He was silent for a moment, "Temperance, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer him, and he could hear her breathing becoming ragged as she cried.

"Please Temperance, tell me…" he pleaded.

"Booth…I can't…I'm sorry…"

"Whatever it is, I promise, I'll do anything I can to help you. You know that I love you and I would do anything for you."

"I don't deserve your love."

"Don't say that, you know you do."

She took a deep breath, "Then if you love me, you'll leave me be for awhile, and promise that you won't try to find me. I promise I'll come back, but I just need some space right now."

Again, he was silent for a few minutes, thinking over her request.

"Booth?"

"You promise you'll come back?"  
"Yes."  
"Ok. Just don't be gone to long," he said dejectedly.

"I promise Booth."

When he hung up, she broke down, letting all her pent up emotion out. When she awoke the next morning, her pillow was still damp with tears.

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2 Months Later

Booth unlocked the door to the apartment, and stepped inside, surprised to find the lights already on. He was more surprised to see Max Keenan sitting on the couch.

"Agent Booth, how are you?" he said casually.

"What are you doing here?"

"Aren't I allowed to check in on my daughter's apartment? I guess the question should really be, what are you doing here?"

"Same as you, checking in on her apartment."

"That's all?"  
"Yeah, that's all."  
"I think you're leaving out the fact that you come here because it makes you feel like she's still around. Don't worry Booth, I did that too, after my wife died."

Max was right. It wasn't his first time checking in on her apartment. He went there at least once a week. It made him believe she would come back. Yet he wasn't going to admit this to her father. Instead, he reached around his back for his cuffs.  
"Are you really going to try to arrest me now? In Temp's apartment?"

"You're a criminal on the run, and are currently right in front of me, why wouldn't I?"

"Because I have information for you, about Temperance, about where she is."

That caught Booth's attention, "You know where she is?"  
"Of course I do, I helped her make her escape."

He mentally kicked himself for not thinking about that possibility, "So where is she?"

"Technically, I shouldn't be telling you anything, she'd kill me if she found out. But she's not here, and as her father, I have a right to be able to disagree with decisions she's made. Why don't you come sit down Booth," he gestured to the couch.

Reluctantly, the FBI agent joined the felon in his partner's living room.

"Now Booth, Temperance is at a real crossroad in her life right now. The choices she's had to make, the reasons she had for leaving, they've been weighing on her, and she's had it pretty rough, and it's only going to get worse in the coming months. I've tried to suggest that she re-think her choices, but you know her, she's stubborn as hell."

Booth nodded in agreement and Max continued,

"I really think she could use your help right now, even if she doesn't want to admit it. And I know for a fact that she misses you a lot."

"I miss her too," Booth whispered.

"So you didn't hear this from me, but she's in Seattle, in the west end of the city. I can't tell you exactly where, but she won't be to hard to find. When you do find her, you tell her you used your FBI intelligence to find her. I had nothing to do with this, got it?"

Max extended his hand to Booth, and the agent shook it, "Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"You're a good man Booth, so go out there and find my daughter. She needs a guy like you."

He smiled in response, glad to have her father's blessing. Getting up, he walked towards the door of the apartment.

"Where are you going? We're not going to play cops and robbers today?" Max joked, surprised he hadn't been read his rights yet.

"Let's just say the robber caught a lucky break today," Booth winked before he left.

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It was a gorgeous day, one that Temperance Brennan was thankful for as she walked along the beach. The sun was shining, and the city was graced with a day without rain, for once. She revelled in the warmth, rubbing at her now seven months pregnant belly. Walking along the beach on nice days like this were one of her favourite things to do. The long walks helped to clear her mind when she thought it would explode from all the thoughts of the baby and adoption. She would think only of the moment, of the sea, drinking in it's smell and the feel of the sand between her toes. She could get lost in the vastness of the open water, and the world that lay beyond.  
She was lost in her thoughts, when the baby kicked sharply, bringing her back to reality. In that moment, his face flashed before her eyes, and her thoughts turned to him.

She missed him, she really did, and she hated to be away from him. Part of her was even starting to hate the secret she was keeping from him, and regret pulled at her heart.

She reminded herself of the repercussions of him finding out, and knew that he couldn't. It was to late now. No going back, no regrets. She banished them from her mind, but they would never leave her heart.

She took one last look at the sea, and headed home.

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Booth arrived in Seattle a day later, immediately beginning his search. He scanned the local directories online for her number or address, but was unable to turn anything up. Her cell phone had been out of use for months now, and he knew she had done this on purpose, to throw off her trail. But if he knew his Bones, he knew she would not be able to stay away from working, so he tried the next best thing.

Booth approached the desk at the coroner's office, and waited for the secretary to get off the phone. When she had, he slid a picture of Temperance Brennan across her desk,

"Hi, I was wondering if you've seen this woman lately," he asked really casually.

A look of recognition flashed across the young blonde's eyes, and it didn't go unnoticed to him.

"May I ask who you are and why you're looking for her?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

He was ready for her question, and placed his badge on the desk, "I'm with the FBI, and I need to get in contact with her. I assume you know who this is then?"

"Yes, but I am on strict orders not to disclose if she's been here or not. I know her face because she writes those books."

"So she has been here."

The secretary gulped, "Maybe."  
"If you don't tell me you're committing an obstruction of justice."  
"Is Dr. Brennan in trouble?"  
"No, I just need to speak with her. She's my partner and we've been out of contact for awhile."

"Alright. Yes, she's been here a few times. She's a consultant on certain cases, but any other information is confidential-"  
"…and I'll need to come back with a warrant for it," Booth finished for her, "I understand that, and she probably told you those rules herself, right?"  
The blonde nodded.

"Ok, that means that her phone number and address are off limits too, but I know what you can do for me," Booth gave her his charm smile, "Could you please tell me the next time she's scheduled to come in and work?"

The secretary flipped through some pages in a planner, "Um, she's supposed to come in next Tuesday."

"Thank you for your help," Booth smiled triumphantly at her.

The blonde blushed as he walked away. Mid-way to the door, he turned back,

"And don't tell her I was here, alright?" he called back.

"I won't."

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Brennan slowly pushed herself up from the couch, rubbing at her back. She groaned in discomfort as another cramp shot across her lower back. She had gotten almost no work done on her latest novel because of the false labour pains she had been experiencing all day. Every few minutes she would need to move to another position, or get up to go to the bathroom. At seven months along, she felt like an awkward whale and was starting to look forward to delivering the child.

She walked towards the kitchen, intending to make a cup of tea when a searing pain tore across her middle, forcing her to reach out for the counter to steady herself. She clutched at her belly and tried to breathe through the pain.

Something wasn't right. She knew that pain wasn't false labour, she had never felt it before. Gingerly, she let go of the counter, and made towards the phone. She didn't make it half way before another fiery shot of pain rocked her body, making her double over in agony. Working through it, she reached the phone and dialled 911. She was barely able to give her address before she collapsed.

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She awoke as the paramedics rushed her inside the hospital, shouting medical terms at the doctor she thought she knew, but her mind was to hazy from pain to identify.

"Can you hear me?" a doctor was asking her.

"Yes," she whispered weakly.

"Has someone paged Dr. Montgomery?" the female doctor said to someone Brennan couldn't see. She then turned back to her, "What's your name and how far along are you?"

"Temperance Brennan…seven months."

"Ms. Brennan, have you experienced any contraction like pain today?"

She nodded, "I thought it was false labour."

"Ok, we're going to take good care of you and the baby, don't worry. Is there someone I can call for you?"

She quickly shook her head, "No, I'll be alright."

She was wheeled into an exam room, poked, prodded and needled. She then waited while Dr. Montgomery made some notes on a clip board and gave some orders to an intern.

"Ms. Brennan, you're experiencing placental abruption. Your placenta is tearing away from your uterus. You began bleeding after you passed out, and I'm afraid you've reached stage two already. We need to get you into surgery immediately, to make sure you don't haemorrhage and to deliver the baby."

"Will the baby be alright? It's too early…" she began to panic.

"I know it's early, but we'll take care of the baby. We have an excellent neo natal team here. Now are you sure there's no one we can call for you?"

A tear rolled down Brennan's cheek as she thought about what might happen to the baby. If something happened to the baby, she didn't know if she could handle it alone. She knew he needed to know now, there was no question that he deserved to know about this baby. And she knew she needed him more than ever.

"Booth…Agent Seely Booth with the FBI," she watched as the intern wrote down the name, "But…but he's in Washington D.C. right now. He'll never make it. How long can the surgery wait?"

"I'm sorry. We can't wait much longer, no more than an hour. If we wait any longer, we put both your lives at risk."

Brennan nodded, the tears now falling down her cheeks freely, "Please call him anyways. And tell him, when he gets here, I'm sorry."

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Booth drove aimlessly down the streets of Seattle as the sun began to set. He was heading back to his hotel room after a fruitless day of searching. Besides the information from the coroner's office, he had not been able to locate his partner. He had canvassed an entire neighbourhood, taking her picture to grocery stores and coffee shops, but no one knew her. So he would move onto the next neighbourhood on his list the next day, but he didn't feel like turning into his hotel room yet. She was out there somewhere, and even though he knew driving around was almost pointless, and his rational mind was saying she wasn't going to just pop up, he kept driving, hoping that he would spot her. Something in his subconscious was telling him not to give up on the day yet, not to give up on his Bones.

His cell phone chirped, and he checked out the caller ID. It said Seattle Grace Hospital. He flipped it open,

"Hello?" he said, wondering why anyone would be calling him from the local hospital.

"Is this Agent Booth?"  
"Yes, who's this?"

"I'm Dr. Grey at Seattle Grace Hospital. I'm calling in regards to a Ms. Temperance Brennan."  
Booth nearly drove off the road, "What? Is she there? Is she alright?" he panicked.

"Ms. Brennan asked that we call you, and that if you can, to come to the hospital as soon as possible."

"Can you give me directions from….um…" he glanced out his window, "Front Street?"

"Pardon? Ms. Brennan said you were in Washington D.C. Agent Booth."  
"Well, I'm not. Now how do I get to the hospital from here?"

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Booth ran through the hallways of a hospital he had never been in before, and nearly collided with the nurse's station as he skidded to a halt.

"Excuse me! Please, I'm looking for Temperance Brennan. Someone called me saying she was here!" he demanded of the people behind the desk.

"Are you Agent Booth?" a dark haired woman in blue scrubs asked him.

"Yes! Where is Temperance Brennan?"

"If you come with me I'll take you to her."

He followed the girl down the hall, "What's wrong with her? Is she alright?"

"The doctor is with her right now, but it looks like we'll have to work quickly."

He was lost, "Work quickly on what?"

"We need to get Dr. Brennan into surgery as soon as possible to make sure her and the baby are alright."

Booth's mouth hung open, "Baby? What baby?"

The young doctor had stopped outside of a room, "Dr. Brennan's baby, Agent Booth."  
She opened the door, ushering him inside. As he stepped over the threshold, he froze, his eyes falling upon the woman in the bed, her belly swollen , her blue eyes meeting his.

"Booth…" Brennan whispered in complete awe. "What…how did you…ow!"

She doubled over in pain and he rushed to her side.

"People, we need to get her into surgery now, let's move!" Dr. Montgomery ordered.

A nurse and the doctor who had led Booth to Brennan started to wheel her bed out of the room. The red headed obstetrician looked at Booth,

"She's already been prepped for surgery, but we need to get her in there now," she turned her attention to Brennan, "Do you want him in there with us?"

"I want to be in there," he said, taking her hand.

Booth didn't care whose baby it was she was carrying, or what she had been hiding from him, or the fact that she hadn't spoken to him in two months. All he cared about was that she was here, and that she had wanted him there as well.

Brennan nodded to the doctors that he could come. He walked with her down the hall to the OR, never letting go of her hand. He was outfitted in scrubs while they prepared to operate, and when he went back in, he has seated by her side, and again, took her hand.

As he sat down, Brennan began to cry again.

"Bones, it's going to be alright," he tried to sooth her, thinking she was scared for her baby.

"Booth….how did you get here?" she gazed into his eyes.

"I was already here, looking for you."

"How…how did you find me?"  
He gave her a weak smile, "I work for the FBI Bones, how do you think?"

Her gaze dropped from his, "I'm sorry Booth…I can't believe you came after all this…I don't deserve you, you should hate me. I can't believe you're even sitting here."

He wiped the tears from her cheeks, "You needed me, how could I not come?"

She was sobbing now, "Because I'm a horrible person…I never told you about the baby…our baby…"

"Oh God…that's, that's my baby?" his mouth hung open in shock, and she nodded.

"I'm sorry Booth…I didn't…I couldn't…I was so scared. I can't do this Booth…"

"Is everything alright?" Dr. Montgomery asked from the other side of the table.

Booth gave her a small nod, "Ok Temperance, you're going to feel a little pressure."

Bones squeezed Booth's hand as Dr. Montgomery reached down and then brought up a small baby.

"It's a girl Temperance, congratulations!"  
All of a sudden, a hush fell over the OR and a tiny cry was heard coming from the newborn.

"Is that her? Is she alright Booth?" Brennan asked sounding very concerned.

He tried to speak past the lump in his throat, "They're checking her out right now. But that was her."

Brennan shook her head from side to side, "I'm sorry Booth, I should have told you…"

Dr. Grey appeared beside Booth, "Ms. Brennan, we have to put you under now so Dr. Montgomery can finish up. Agent Booth, I'll have a nurse take you to the waiting room ok?"

The young doctor looked from the agent to the anthropologist, "Can you give us a minute?" Booth asked.

"Of course."

Brennan wasn't looking at Booth, her eyes were closed, her cheeks wet with tears, she whispered to him, "If you're not here when I wake up, I'll understand."

He placed a hand on her cheek, gently bringing her head back to face him, "I'll be here, I promise. I'm not leaving Temperance. We'll talk when you wake up, but I promise, I'll be here."

She opened her eyes to meet his, and knew he would be there. Then he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips before getting up to leave.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Booth paced the waiting room, having tired of sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs. His mind was a whirlwind of activity, questions flying through it at rapid speeds. The main question being: Why hadn't she told him? Was she even going to tell him had the baby not come early? She had seemed so scared in the operating room, so full of regret, so what had she been planning? He hated to think that she had endured the seven months of pregnancy alone, and that she had been afraid to tell him. Afraid of what though?

"Excuse me, Agent Booth?" a nurse appeared, interrupting the questions firing through his mind.

He raised an eyebrow in question.

"You can see your daughter now if you'd like."

His daughter. He had a daughter. The thought was still surreal to him. He silently followed the nurse to the NICU. Inside she led him to an incubator where the tiniest baby girl he had ever seen lay.

And she was beautiful to him. She was his daughter, and all of a sudden nothing else in the world mattered expect that she lay in front of him.

"Her blood pressure was low when we got her here, and she'll need to gain a bit more weight before we can move her to the nursery. We'd like to keep her here for some time for observation, but the doctors think she'll make it through just fine," the nurse smiled at him.

"Thank you," he whispered, still in awe of the baby. He sat down in the rocking chair next to her, content to sit there and gaze at his baby girl.

An hour or so later, Dr. Grey came back from the OR to speak to Booth.

"How is she?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Ms. Brennan lost a lot of blood, but we were able to repair her uterine wall and Dr. Montgomery expects her to make a full recovery. You can come see her now if you'd like."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just over an hour later, Brennan groggily started to come out of her drug induced sleep, groaning at the dull pain that radiated from her abdomen. She rolled her head to the side, where she saw Booth asleep in his chair, holding her hand. She had dreamt that he left her, that he wouldn't come back, but here he was, just like he had promised. She smiled and squeezed his hand a little.

"Booth?" she whispered.

He slowly woke up and gazed into her blue eyes, "Hi, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Sore. How's the baby? Have you seen her?"  
"She's in the NICU, and she's gorgeous."

He knew he should wait until she was more rested before he asked, but he couldn't wait any longer. The questions in his mind would not go away.

"Bones, why didn't you tell me?"

Her gaze dropped and she wouldn't face him. She pursed her lips together, knowing that the question had been coming, but unable to face him with an answer.

"Please tell me. Why did you call me now but not tell me months ago? Why did you run?"

"I'll tell you Booth, and if you want to walk away afterwards, I'll understand…" she repeated what she had told him earlier.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"I wasn't ready Booth, I was scared. I'm not sure I'm even ready now for this. You know I've said before that I don't want children, so when I found out I was pregnant, I freaked out…" her voice was breaking with emotion, "…and I couldn't tell you. I knew you'd want to keep this baby, and I didn't think I could handle it. So I ran…it was the only thing I could think of doing."

"Were you going to tell me? Would you have called me when the baby came?"

She shook her head, "No…no Booth. I wasn't going to tell you, I was going to give the baby up for adoption, to a family who could love it more than I could."

Booth didn't respond, and she knew she had hurt him. When she looked back at him, a tear was running down his cheek. He slowly spoke, "Why…why did you call me now?"

"Because I was scared Booth….so scared that if something happened to this baby…I don't know what I would do. I thought that if something was wrong, I owed it to you to know, and I needed you here…I can't do this alone."

"So what now Temperance?" his voice was barely a whisper.

"I…I don't know…"

"Is the adoption final?"

"No…I was going to meet with the potential parents next month, then decide."

He rubbed her hand, "Listen…I'm going to take a walk, but I'll come back…" he sounded distant.

"Ok…"

He got up and left the room. As the door shut, she broke down in tears, thinking she had finally pushed him away for good.

Booth walked down the hall and found a chair, sat down and placed his head in his hands. He loved his Bones, loved her more than she'd ever know, but he couldn't believe she would not have told them about their baby. What if she still didn't want to keep it? He couldn't possibly keep the baby himself, his work was consuming, he had a hard enough time spending time with Parker, let alone a newborn. Yet he could not bear the thought of his child being taken care of by someone else.

He knew he couldn't push Bones into making the decision to become a mother, he knew it was her choice as well, but he needed to try to help her see her potential. He knew she would make a wonderful mother, if she would just believe in herself, and see how much that baby needed her, how much he needed her.

Booth knew there was hope, she had called him, recognized that she needed help, needed him, and that he had a right to know he had another child. He got up, knowing what he would do.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She heard the door to her room open, and expected a doctor or nurse to come in. Booth had said he would come back, but the dejection in his voice, and the way he had looked at her made her think that he might not. She had hurt him badly, and she knew she would regret it for the rest of her life.

So she was very surprised when he came through the door, pushing a wheel chair.

"Hey Bones, we're going for a ride," he told her, helping her into the chair. He saw the tear streaks on her cheeks, still damp.

"I didn't think you were coming back."  
"I said I would, didn't I?"  
She looked up at him, searching his brown eyes for what she had seen before, "Booth, I'm sorry. I hurt you, I know. I was wrong, so wrong to keep this from you."

"Don't apologize again, I know you are, and I know you did the right thing when you called me. Thank you."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."  
He wheeled her down the hall and to the NICU. When they approached their daughter's incubator she was silent, gazing at the infant inside.

"She looks a lot like you Bones."

She placed her hand on the glass, still staring. Booth lifted the top of the enclosure for her, and guided her hand inside. He placed it on top of the tiny fingers of the infant.

"Do you have a name for her?" he asked quietly.

"Sophie," she replied.

"You can still keep her if you want, take her home."

"Do you really think I can do it Booth? Be a mother, after everything that I've said, everything I've been through? I don't know if I can. What if I screw her up? What if she ends up like me?"

"Then that would be a good thing," he smiled at her.

"I can't do this alone Booth."  
"Then we'll do it together."

"Together," she said simply.  
Booth kissed her then, and her fears melted away.

The End


End file.
